The following is Part 1 of a trip report on a backpacking trip to the Wind River Ranch in Wyoming from Aug 24-Sept. 1:
I'm not sure I remember when I first heard about the WindsI just remember hearing and reading about a wild place, far from any urban centers (Salt Lake about 3.75 hrs, Denver about 7?), full of fish filled streams and lakes, and tons of remote alpine routes through the mountains. About a year ago, we decided this year's trip would be to the Winds. Over the previous couple months, we narrowed down the area we would be hiking, booked are flights to Salt Lake, and started getting any additional gear for the new location.
Day 0 Flight to Salt Lake, Drive to Pinedale
Landed in Salt Lake around 10:00 AM, grabbed rental car and lunch, and started driving to Pinedale. It was an amazing drive starting with passing through Park City and then heading out on the Great Basin in Wyoming. We could see the Winds from what seemed like a 100+ miles away while still way out in the dessert. There were an absolute incredible amount of antelope the entire drive to Pinedale (including within the town).
We picked up some last minute gear from a great outdoor shop (bear spray, misquito net, yak traks, etc), grabbed a last meal at the Wind River Brewery and settled down early for the last sleep in a bed for quite some time.
Day 1
Note on map: alternating colors represent each day...blue day one, yellow day two, and so on.
After breakfast, we hit the trail parking at the Trails End Trailhead.
The parking lot was nearly completely full and there was a ton of people on the trail (both coming and going). This trailhead is used as a jumping off point for Island Lake and Titcomb Basin (very popular destinationmore on that later) so the crowd was pretty thick until we got pass Photographers Point and starting heading down Pole Creek Trail.
There was one group that consisted of a girl with no pack, one guy with a giant pistol on his hip and a medium sized pack, and one guy with a pistol grip shotgun dangling from a bungy chord that we passed back and forth from several times in day one.
I'm a pretty big believer in every pound matters and halfway through Day 1 I was realizing that between extra gear (new sleeping bag, thicker down jacket, bear spray, ursac) and extra food that I was starting about 7-8 pounds heavier than last trip. Breaks were frequent. We finally found a location to cross Pole Creek and found a rather nice camp site.
After getting camp ready, we spent a little while catching fish on Pole Creek. In this area Pole Creek consists of a series of lakes with exit streams running rapidly for 100 yards +/- until it hits the next lake. It was amazing, but the fish were extremely small.
It is funny looking back on Day 1 Pictures. Every small thing drew the camera out for a picture when days later I would walk hours through breathtaking scenario without bothering to pull it out.
Day 2
After catching a few more fish, we packed up and headed down the trail. We started the day with an offtrail skirting of a downstream lake that led to some good up and down.
We got back on the trail and headed on our way passing a number of lakes that looked incredible deep. We made a couple casts but the effort seemed insignificant when compared to the width and depth of the lakes in question.
We called an early audible about 1:30 or so to not continue on the route we had planned and instead head to Timico Lake. This would make a much shorter Day 2, and theoretically a shorter but more treacherous Day 3. We made it to Timico Lake around 3:00 and after exploring around, we settled on a camp site that provided a great view of the lake.
There were almost no trees so there would be no fire that night. We were finally off the "mapped trails" and the flow of people were significantly reduced. There was a group that passed by us late afternoon and a group that camped about a half mile away, but that was it.
We had pretty good luck fishing at Timico that evening catching about 10 fish per person. Again, none were big with the largest being maybe 10-12 inches.
The wind had a pattern of blowing very strong in the afternoon and then slowing as the sun went down. We set up our chairs on a rock outcropping and watched the sun set and the stars come out.
Day 3
This is a little confusing, but day 3 is the very faint blue highlighter.
We had camped at around 10,750 and our water bottles were frozen solid outside the tent. I stayed incredible warm in my sleeping back (Blackburn 0 by Big Agnes). We packed up, looked at our map to pick our route over the pass and started going.
I'm going to try to limit my written description and focus on pictures, but we climbed up a steep ridge to another perched lake, climbed up another steep ridge to the Continental Divide, and then had incredible views in all directions.
The top of the ridge in the view below is the Cont divide:
VIew from the divide...This lake is about a mile wide...the distances and scale of what you could see were hard to adjust to:
We had an off trail route finding adventure to get down to Golden Lakes area.
About 90-percent of the way there, we finally found a subtle trail that we could follow.
Golden Lakes is difficult to describe. The Upper Lake has giant waterfalls pouring in. The lake itself is huge by Texas standards. The exit stream then runs about a quarter mile to the next lake. Then the same process repeats itself.
We found a pretty good campsite near the exit stream of the middle lake.
We caught some fish in the streams but not the lakes.
Another great evening of sitting around a campfire and watching the stars come out.
I'll try to finish up the report later, but here is a teaser picture:
I'm not sure I remember when I first heard about the WindsI just remember hearing and reading about a wild place, far from any urban centers (Salt Lake about 3.75 hrs, Denver about 7?), full of fish filled streams and lakes, and tons of remote alpine routes through the mountains. About a year ago, we decided this year's trip would be to the Winds. Over the previous couple months, we narrowed down the area we would be hiking, booked are flights to Salt Lake, and started getting any additional gear for the new location.
Day 0 Flight to Salt Lake, Drive to Pinedale
Landed in Salt Lake around 10:00 AM, grabbed rental car and lunch, and started driving to Pinedale. It was an amazing drive starting with passing through Park City and then heading out on the Great Basin in Wyoming. We could see the Winds from what seemed like a 100+ miles away while still way out in the dessert. There were an absolute incredible amount of antelope the entire drive to Pinedale (including within the town).
We picked up some last minute gear from a great outdoor shop (bear spray, misquito net, yak traks, etc), grabbed a last meal at the Wind River Brewery and settled down early for the last sleep in a bed for quite some time.
Day 1
Note on map: alternating colors represent each day...blue day one, yellow day two, and so on.
After breakfast, we hit the trail parking at the Trails End Trailhead.
The parking lot was nearly completely full and there was a ton of people on the trail (both coming and going). This trailhead is used as a jumping off point for Island Lake and Titcomb Basin (very popular destinationmore on that later) so the crowd was pretty thick until we got pass Photographers Point and starting heading down Pole Creek Trail.
There was one group that consisted of a girl with no pack, one guy with a giant pistol on his hip and a medium sized pack, and one guy with a pistol grip shotgun dangling from a bungy chord that we passed back and forth from several times in day one.
I'm a pretty big believer in every pound matters and halfway through Day 1 I was realizing that between extra gear (new sleeping bag, thicker down jacket, bear spray, ursac) and extra food that I was starting about 7-8 pounds heavier than last trip. Breaks were frequent. We finally found a location to cross Pole Creek and found a rather nice camp site.
After getting camp ready, we spent a little while catching fish on Pole Creek. In this area Pole Creek consists of a series of lakes with exit streams running rapidly for 100 yards +/- until it hits the next lake. It was amazing, but the fish were extremely small.
It is funny looking back on Day 1 Pictures. Every small thing drew the camera out for a picture when days later I would walk hours through breathtaking scenario without bothering to pull it out.
Day 2
After catching a few more fish, we packed up and headed down the trail. We started the day with an offtrail skirting of a downstream lake that led to some good up and down.
We got back on the trail and headed on our way passing a number of lakes that looked incredible deep. We made a couple casts but the effort seemed insignificant when compared to the width and depth of the lakes in question.
We called an early audible about 1:30 or so to not continue on the route we had planned and instead head to Timico Lake. This would make a much shorter Day 2, and theoretically a shorter but more treacherous Day 3. We made it to Timico Lake around 3:00 and after exploring around, we settled on a camp site that provided a great view of the lake.
There were almost no trees so there would be no fire that night. We were finally off the "mapped trails" and the flow of people were significantly reduced. There was a group that passed by us late afternoon and a group that camped about a half mile away, but that was it.
We had pretty good luck fishing at Timico that evening catching about 10 fish per person. Again, none were big with the largest being maybe 10-12 inches.
The wind had a pattern of blowing very strong in the afternoon and then slowing as the sun went down. We set up our chairs on a rock outcropping and watched the sun set and the stars come out.
Day 3
This is a little confusing, but day 3 is the very faint blue highlighter.
We had camped at around 10,750 and our water bottles were frozen solid outside the tent. I stayed incredible warm in my sleeping back (Blackburn 0 by Big Agnes). We packed up, looked at our map to pick our route over the pass and started going.
I'm going to try to limit my written description and focus on pictures, but we climbed up a steep ridge to another perched lake, climbed up another steep ridge to the Continental Divide, and then had incredible views in all directions.
The top of the ridge in the view below is the Cont divide:
VIew from the divide...This lake is about a mile wide...the distances and scale of what you could see were hard to adjust to:
We had an off trail route finding adventure to get down to Golden Lakes area.
About 90-percent of the way there, we finally found a subtle trail that we could follow.
Golden Lakes is difficult to describe. The Upper Lake has giant waterfalls pouring in. The lake itself is huge by Texas standards. The exit stream then runs about a quarter mile to the next lake. Then the same process repeats itself.
We found a pretty good campsite near the exit stream of the middle lake.
We caught some fish in the streams but not the lakes.
Another great evening of sitting around a campfire and watching the stars come out.
I'll try to finish up the report later, but here is a teaser picture:
